Login using the username and password you created for AcrobatUsers.com.
Note: This is not the same as your Adobe ID.
Benefits of Free Membership:
Learn more about AcrobatUsers.com
You don't have to be a member to look at any content on the site. Increase your expertise with our helpful tutorials, videos, forums, and sample PDFs.
Like what you see? Take the next step and become a member. Register now to get discounts, attend eSeminars, ask questions and more.
Get the most out of your membership. Post in the forums, create your profile, submit to the gallery, attend a user group meeting. Log In now.
Last November, WindJack Solutions traveled to Thailand and the Philippines. We went to Thailand first for a wedding and then flew from Bangkok to Manila, then from Manila to Davao (where the Great Ted Padova lives), and then back again to Thailand before coming back to the US. We did some touring and sat (or stood) around in a lot of airports, so we had quite a bit of time and contact with the middle classes and business travelers from all over Asia, as well as the sessions I did in Davao which introduced me to the local techy scene. Let me tell you people, they are not waiting for PDF to come to them. Asia has got to be the fastest growing techy market in the world and they are into everything, including PDF.
I think that probably 8 out of 10 people I talked to knew what PDF was, better stats than here. Just to give you a general idea of the fast pace of growth. We were in Bangkok 8 years ago and it was a typical smelly, crowded third world city. Now they have excellent, clean, subways, elevated trains, shopping malls, and highways, and skyscrapers as far as you can see. The suburbs are packed with business and conference centers and western style condos. You wouldn't know it was the same city.
In the airports and touring we met lots of Filipino travelers. Nearly all of them work in call centers and use PDF as a standard business tool. These guys are the heart of the upwardly mobile. They are all well educated and keen on technology. They have disposable income and go to Thailand for shopping. In the Manila airport we met one guy from Singapore who does conference organizing all over Asia. When we told him we were in the Acrobat/PDF software business he looked at us with awe and said "PDF saved my life!!". That's a pretty good endorsement.
Many years ago we were in India where we had a similar experience. The clerks in nearly every hotel we stayed in had degrees in Computer Science. The place was brimming over with un-used talent. Well, things can't go on like that for long. Today India is not only the software outsourcing capital of the world, it's also the hub of a home grown Asian software and technology market, i.e., they don't need us so much anymore to buy their stuff. I know lots of guys from India that came over here 10-20 years ago because this was where the money was. Lots of them are sorry they left India because now they can't afford to go back. It's grown too fast and it's now a place to be. One guy told me that he tried to buy some Land around Bangalore (where he is from) and couldn't even come close to affording it. He was shocked at the change.
I heard the same story almost 20 years ago from a guy I knew from Taiwan . He left for greener pastures here in the US and after a while he couldn't go back because it was too expensive. All his friends made a fortune with big salaries and real-estate.
The Philippines seems to be in exactly this same position right now. Overflowing with talented ambitious kids.
Looking for a job or seeking to fill a job? Check out the new Acrobat job board.
Go deeper into Acrobat through a new series of informal technical talks by Acrobat experts.
Sign up for your free membership today and save up to 40% on books, training, and more.
Copyright © 2009 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.
